Latin may be a "dead" language, but it remains beloved to many, from the serious academic to the traditional Roman Catholic to the person who wishes to create his or her own motto. Whatever your reason for wanting to translate the English word peace into Latin, never fear! Latin is dead, but it doesn't have to be daunting. A simple translation of peace is pax, but keep reading to see how you can use it properly and impress your friends and family! Pax vobiscum (peace be with you)!

Steps

1

Determine what you mean by "peace." Latin, as the language that dominated European thought and culture for over a thousand years, has a wide vocabulary. The word usually given is "pax," but if you are looking to express the idea of tranquil, tranquility, or calm, then it would be better to go with tranquillitas (the noun quietness, stillness, or calm). In a political or religious context, pax is the word you ought to use.

2

Know which part of speech you're looking for! Just like with some English words, such as "who" and "whom," the form a word takes in Latin demonstrates the role it plays in a sentence. Latin words, however, can take many more forms that English words can in showing nuances of meaning that English can't. In English, we usually just show whether a word is singular or plural (if there is one or if there is more than one). Latin does not rely on word order the way English does, but instead reveals information through the form it takes. Because this isn't a Latin grammar, the following explanations are overly simplified but should suit basic requirements.

3

For the SINGULAR SUBJECT of a sentence..."Peace is nice." --> PAX.

4

For a SINGULAR POSSESSIVE or describing a PART or PIECE... "Peace's place in the world," or "We all want a piece of peace." --> PACIS.

5

For when you would use the word "TO" WITH A SINGULAR NOUN (that is, AN INDIRECT OBJECT) (not with a verb!) in English... "I offer my life to peace." --> PACI.

6

For the SINGULAR DIRECT OBJECT of a sentence (that is, something that is directly acted upon, recognized in English as the word that usually comes directly after the verb)... "He loves peace." --> PACEM.

7

For when a SINGULAR noun is BEING USED TO DO SOMETHING... "We saved the world with (using) peace." --> PACE. Note that when we use the word "with" in English to mean "along with" or "accompanying," the form PACE is also used--but you will also need to use the word cum to show that it is meant in that sense. This is why we see the -cum ending in the vobiscum of "pax vobisbum." Latin is a funny language that does not care about word order as much as English does! The exact same sentence could be written: "Pax cum vobis."

8

For the PLURAL SUBJECT of a sentence... "Peaces are nice." --> PACES. To be honest, I don't know how often you would need to say something like this, because in English "peace" as a concept is usually only ever used in the singular. But if you find yourself needing to express the idea of different peaces as the subject of a sentence, you would do it with PACES.

9

For a PLURAL POSSESSIVE or describing a PART or PIECE of a group... "Various peaces' place in the world," or "We all want a piece of the peaces." --> PACUM. Again, I'm not sure where you would use this form in a real-word context, but if you need it, there you have it!

10

For when you would use the word "TO" WITH A PLURAL NOUN (that is, PLURAL INDIRECT OBJECTS) (again, not with a verb!) in English... "I offer my life to the peaces." --> PACIBUS.

11

For PLURAL DIRECT OBJECTS of a sentence... "He loves peaces." --> PACES. Again, not a form usually used with "peace." If you're having trouble grasping it, compare these two sentences: "He loves the dog" and "He loves the dogs."

12

For when a PLURAL noun is BEING USED TO DO SOMETHING... "We saved the world with (using) peaces" (the implication that the world was saved using different forms of peace). --> PACIBUS. The same tip about the wordcum applies here as well.

Community Q&A

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Tips

You might have noticed that there are some forms that look the same! That can be tricky if you are trying to translate Latin into English but shouldn't cause you any problems if you are going in the other direction.

If you want to know the formal names for the different forms listed above (for example, in case you want to look up more detailed grammar information), they are: NOMINATIVE, GENITIVE, DATIVE, ACCUSATIVE, and ABLATIVE--and then repeating again in the same order for the plural forms.

Warnings

These are the form specific to the word pax, which is a "feminine third declension" noun in Latin. Latin has three genders and five declensions for nouns! So while it is possible that the same endings will work with other nouns, there is still a good chance that they won't.

The word cum is just one example of word that affects what form the word following it will take. Others are ad, in, and ex. If you have a preposition that comes before the word "peace" in the sentence you're trying to write, it's a good idea to look it up in a dictionary or online, where you can quickly find out what form is required.